Tuesday, June 30, 2015

Canada`s Tireless Oldmen, Thank You For Fighting Tooth and Nail For the Common Good




Written by Robin Mathews


The Brent Rathgeber columns are dedicated to Rafe Mair, tireless worker for a democratic Canada living under the rule of law.

Canada has been – and still is – a country blessed with both real and potential blessings for all its population. 

But the steps being taken to reverse its tranquil, democratic potential by a large group of people can only be called insanity.   Every Canadian has experienced or witnessed the Conservative government’s attempts to destroy Parliament and democratic elections; its attempts to deny globe-threatening environmental practices; its vicious attacks on any and all who defend fair procedure and the rule of law; its decisions to make war where Canada’s presence is wholly unnecessary; its perpetual lying about the economy, indebtedness, and government spending.

Canadians face daily attacks on the very constitution of the country (in fact and in law), revealed in court case after court case which the ruling Conservative Party and government lose.

We experience or witness the irrational punitive acts against First Nations, the aged in Canada, the vulnerable … always – especially incapacitated War Veterans.  That last seems an anomaly from a Party and government apparently caring deeply about War, about making War, celebrating War, and brandishing War Heroes as particularly Canadian.  But the truth is that the insane theories followed by the Conservative government demand austerity measures, punitive attacks on the vulnerable wherever they may be, the destruction of labour unions, de-taxing the wealthy, removing all impediments to wealth-making, and the general de-legitimation of the population except as servants and coolies for (global) private, corporate, wealth-making processes practised in Canada.

Canadians experience as torture the unceasing “double-speak” of government – the calculated presentation of misinformation, disinformation, false information, and sheer fantasy information – information that can only be the product of madness, of megalomania, of people living in a world constructed by sadists in the pursuit of wealth, power, and self-aggrandisement before all else.

What has that to do with Edmonton-St. Albert MP Brent Rathgeber and his book: Irresponsible Government?  The answer is “Everything”.

Well-meaning, responsible Brent Rathgeber MP records some of the evils listed above.  But he does so as if he is writing of and recording the actions of sane people.  He even – twice – suggests that because Stephen Harper (a man who lies as  policy) has said he knew nothing of Nigel Wright’s bribe paid to Mike Duffy, we may assume Stephen Harper knew nothing of the bribe.  Those are places  - and key places – where Brent Rathgeber’s book isn’t believable.

What Canadians have experienced in the last ten years is a Conservative Party and government devoted to the destruction of Canada as a democratic country under the rule of law.  We have experienced that history fronted by a man who will say anything when asked for truth and who will do anything out-of-sight to further the insane, destructive program: fraudulent electoral activities, fraudulent closing of parliament, fraudulent “omnibus” laws introduced that cannot be considered justly by the Opposition, bribery of a senator, etc. etc.

That is why the allegations of “false flag” researchers are credible: that the Conservative government was very likely  involved (creating terror events) in the deaths of army reservist Cpl. Nathan Cirillo at the Ottawa War Memorial (cenotaph) on October 22, 2014, the killing  of Cirillo’s murderer, Michael Zehaf-Bibeau the same day, and the slightly earlier automobile killing of Warrant Officer Patrice Vincent by Martin Couture-Rouleau in Quebec.

The curse upon the heads of the prime minister and most members of his cabinet has been placed there by themselves. Approaching all opposition with lies, misinformation, and/or irrelevant attack, they have left themselves open to suspicion that they, indeed, may have overseen the so-called “terrorist attacks” which others choose to name “false flag
events.  Behind his ‘normal’ guise of unknowing, Stephen Harper may have – with some cabinet colleagues, and/or lawyers from the Justice Department, and/or members of the RCMP/or others –  set on foot the terrible events.

Success in the matter, moreover, might have persuaded Conservatives to repeat the action, planning to have - in the near future - another “terrorist attack” to prevent an election victory by Opposition forces.

Canadians – very frequently – do not want to be told special evil may exist among the people who govern and police the country.  In that sense ‘they run with the hare and hunt with the hounds’.  They ask for integrity from public officers, but they resist those who show evidence that integrity is lacking.  As knee-jerk reaction they say: “Oh, Conspiracy Theory at work!” of those, like Barry Zwicker, who allege government involvement in a planned crime at the Ottawa cenotaph on October 22, 2014.

But conspiracy in high places to serve criminal ends has existed at least since Brutus and his friends slew Julius Caesar in Rome on the Ides of March forty-four years before the birth of Jesus Christ.

Conspiracy theories exist because conspiracies are the bread and butter of designing, ambitious, greed-driven men and women – and especially of those we call megalomaniacs, people insanely driven to possess power. 

Stephen Harper, Canada’s prime minister, I suggest is a megalomaniac, fronting and partly leading the wholesale attack on Canada and Canadians.


Canadians have been led to think of megalomaniacs as people like Adolf Hitler.  He built huge public events to focus upon and showcase his own (undoubtedly) magnetic, hypnotizing – even captivating personality.  He employed that personality as a “sane statesman” negotiating with major global leaders of the time.  For many years he was considered sane by his own colleagues and much of the world.  Even Canada’s prime minister of the day, W.L.M. King suggests in his diary he met a man of conviction, strength, and dedication when he met Adolf Hitler.
Hitler’s megalomaniac construction (with a silent, corporate alliance) of a gigantically brutalizing force set the world at war only months after the meeting with King – and it is still the unending field of scholarly research.

Brent Rathgeber writes of the destruction of Canadian democracy, focussing on all aspects of parliamentary activity.  He describes the micro-management of parliament by Stephen Harper’s minions, the planned and realized debasement of almost every fair and democratic function of government from a central point – the person of the prime minister.  Then Rathgeber blandly asserts that in one of the touchiest, most delicate criminal acts (the bribery of Mike Duffy) – out of the Prime Minister’s Office by the top PMO operative and a close collaborator and friend – Stephen Harper was kept blandly and unknowingly in the dark!
Brent Rathgeber slips….  I say that as if I might mean he consciously misleads his readers.  I don’t think that for a moment.  I think Brent Rathgeber is a fine, moral man who should have a statue raised to him in his constituency. All Canadians should read his book, and consider him a hero. He is  the one Conservative actor in a flagrantly corrupt Conservative Party, government, caucus, and constituency structure across Canada to resign from membership and sit as an Independent Member of Parliament.

No one may asperse the character of Brent Rathgeber.

At the same time as he treats Stephen Harper as sane, he describes his insanity by describing Harper’s press conferences … and one in particular.  In Canada’s friendly, open democratic society, the prime minister held a press conference.  He appeared, Rathgeber reports, almost out of nowhere, as if by sleight of hand or some other magic.  He was closely guarded.  He was kept far from “people”.  An unnamed functionary announced the prime minister would take two questions in English and two questions in French (from previously hand-picked and “safe” questioners). No other questions would be entertained.  None were.  That done, the prime minister disappeared, evaporated, was gone. 

That is not a description of megalomaniac Adolf Hitler holding a press conference.  It is a description of megalomaniac Stephen Harper holding a press conference. Presented as theatre, only Charlie Chaplin could mine the absurdity, the downright ridiculousness of that megalomania at work – in public … in a democracy.

That insane event, that nut-case happening (which is routine now) was and is accepted by the compliant, sold-out, grovelling, self-abasing, spineless journalists of the conventional Canadian press and media. They accept, perhaps, because the owners of corporate press and media in Canada are very likely part of “the silent corporate alliance” intending to make Canada a fascist state in which they will increase their wealth and power.

Brent Rathgeber (MP Edmonton-St. Albert) places before Canadians vital information (from an insider) about the destruction of Canadian democracy.  Every Canadian should read Irresponsible Government. But Brent Rathgeber’s views of Canada’s press and media (like his view of Stephen Harper) are the views of someone who is completely naïve, apparently unaware of real power connections in Canada.  Though he knows the importance of press and media in a democratic society, he is almost completely naïve about their sell-out in Canada.


 [That will be the subject of Brent Rathgeber, Part Two.]

Written by Robin Mathews


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The Straight Goods

Cheers Eyes Wide Open


Monday, June 22, 2015

Christy Clark Starts Wrangling Up the Herd of Golden LNG Unicorns In Preparation For the 2017 Provincial Election

 

 

According to CKNW`s Shane Woodford...... Today, at 7:26 pm

 _______

Vancouver, BC, Canada / (CKNW AM) AM980

Premier’s promised ‘Prosperity Fund’ to be tabled just in time for 2017 election

 

"A fund promising to cure all our financial woes promised by Premier Christy Clark in her election campaign two years ago will finally see the light of day just before the next provincial election.
In a mandate letter to the minister of finance, Christy Clark instructs Mike de Jong to table her promised Prosperity Fund in the legislature in the Spring of 2017.

That is also when the next provincial election will be held.
In the 2013 election campaign the Premier said 100-million-dollars of revenue from her promised LNG industry would flow into the fund.

Clark promised the money would wipe out BC’s debt, reduce taxes on families, and make investments in health care, education, and infrastructure.

However the provincial debt has increased by about nine-billion-dollars since she made the promise under her campaign pitch of debt free BC.

And while momentum has been made on her promised LNG industry there likely won’t be a single facility built by the time the 2017 campaign arrives."

 http://www.cknw.com/2015/06/22/premiers-promised-prosperity-fund-to-be-tabled-just-in-time-for-2017-election/?sc_ref=twitter

 

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Now....First off...Ross K just today(June22/2015) was wondering where and when the next shiny Christy Clark distraction and sparkling bauble would arrive, he didn`t have to wait very long... Ross K`s answer comes today, June 22/2015...The very same day he posted the article linked directly below...

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Monday, June 22, 2015

This Day In Clarkland...'Find Me A New Shiny!'

 http://pacificgazette.blogspot.ca/2015/06/this-day-in-clarklandfind-me-new-shiny.html

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@Shane Woodfoord,..... 

Unless that`s a typo, and or you are being deliberately obtuse Shane...Christy Clark did not promise $100 million dollars(that`s what you wrote Shane Woodford) would flow into a prosperity fund...In fact Christy Clark in 2013 promised $100 billion dollars would flow into a provincial prosperity fund...

 However, with the deal the BC Liberals cut with Petronas, if the project gets built, after 30 years of LNG exports...BC might be lucky enough to collect a TOTAL of $100 million in total LNG revenues.....

 Funny stuff, tabling a prosperity fund framework in the run-up to the next (2017 election)...By 2017 there still won`t be one drop of LNG exported out of British Columbia..

Christy Clark and her gang of BC Liberal scofflaws are so desperate to change channels on their endless crimes and scandals..

 http://www.vancouversun.com/news/Christy+Clark+approval+rating+continues+slide+poll/11156816/story.html

Just to refresh British Columbians and Shane Woodford`s memory...

 Here is the BC Liberals 2013 election platform..Page 1....A personal message from Christy Clark....And I quote...

 

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Today`s BC Liberal Plan

  A message from Christy Clark

"With our balanced budget and the B.C. jobs plan, Today`s BC Liberals want to grow the economy and pay off the provincial debt, a key part of this plan is taking advantage of a our-once-in-a-generation-opportunity to develop a new industry by exporting liquefied natural gas to Asian markets. Over the next 30 years, this clean resource has the potential to generate $1trillion in economic activity, $100 billion for the BC prosperity fund, and 100,000 high paying jobs. The NDP refuse to come clean on their position on natural gas and would blow this historic opportunity.

The leader of the NDP and I are applying for the same job, the job of your premier, and we`re doing it at a time when our province is surrounded by economic risk. Let`s compare our platforms, our visions, our plans, and our team, let you the people of B.C. decide."

 Signed Christy Clark
______________

(Below is a link to the BC Liberal 2013 election platform and Christy Clark`s personal signed message/statement..Grant G)

http://files.flipsnack.com/iframe/embed.html?hash=fhcjsxtd&wmode=window&bgcolor=EEEEEE&t=13660594461366059618

 The audacity of these BC Liberals and Christy Clark..There will never be a prosperity fund with even $3 billion dollars in it from LNG..LNG won`t pay-off the debt, won`t create 100,000 jobs, won`t eliminate our sales tax, ...Christy Clark is already clucking about(in 2015) and preparing to promote in 2015 this 2017 shiny bauble, or should I say, recycle the same empty prosperity fund!,...Just before the 2017 election, a framework for a mystery fund, a framework for an LNG industry that at best, won`t be shipping LNG before 2022..Probably not at all...

There has been no climbdown by the BC Liberals over their outrageous 2013 revenue claims related to LNG..Even though the tax regime has been reduced by 75% ....Even though royalties have been reduced and any future tax increases or royalty increases have been frozen for the next 25 years..no matter what happens to the price of LNG in the future..if LNG rises, BC will not see one extra dime of revenue...and still Christy Clark and Rich Coleman keep on clinging to their delusions while knee deep in unicorn dung...

Christy Clark is wrangling up her trained golden unicorns, herding the unicorns into our BC Legislature in 2017, just in time for our next election...And...Each and everyone of our senior press gallery reporters and columnists get their own unicorn...One for Sean Leslie..One for Les Leyne...Two unicorns for Tom Fletcher, a pretty pink unicorn for Keith Baldrey..

And the beat goes on..

P.S......Hey Shane Woodford...Fix your typos or clarify, getting tired of shabby cknw story telling..

The Straight Goods

Cheers Eyes Wide Open

Friday, June 19, 2015

Mel Hurtig’s New Book The Arrogant Autocrat (A Testimonial on How Canada`s Democracy Was Poisoned)



 Mel Hurtig’s New Book The Arrogant Autocrat Is Telling Canadians of A Real Life Horror Story 


The not so sublime message contained within.....Part III


Written by Robin mathews



                                                       Rats

                                       Rats are in the granary.
                                       Rats are in the hall.
                                       Rats are in The Council Room –
                                       So we’re putting out The Call.

                                       Use cudgels in the granary –
                                       Traps and poisons in the hall.
                                       Use long guns in The Council Room –
                                       They work there best of all.

                                       Rats found in The Council Room
                                       Are fierce and mean and tall.
                                       So make yourselves well ready …
                                       Take down your long guns from the wall.

                                       [from an old Canadian Union song,
                                       apparently anonymous]


Everything a writer sets out to write … is not everything he or she says.  Mel Hurtig, hard worker in the Committee for an Independent Canada (from 1969), then founder of the Council of Canadians and its first Chair (from 1985), then indefatigable researcher and writer on Canadian independence and its erosion over at least 40 years has written ‘history’ without knowing it.  And he has become history (without knowing it).

History (when we look backwards) … we say we can see that history predicts.  But we’re usually wrong when we say we know ‘what is going to happen because of history’ since what happens happens in history’s own way … not out of our heads or how we think it should, often (or how we try to force it to do what we want). 

Even so ….  Even so, present shapes make future history.

What The Arrogant Autocrat says beyond what is written there in black and white connects and integrates with all kinds of contemporary other things we can suggest simply by repeating names and phrases: Mike Duffy, Lisa Raitt, John Baird, Nigel Wright, Barrick Gold, “Dirty Oil”, Brian Mulroney, Enbridge, Jenni Byrne, NEB, Kinder Morgan, Universal Health Care, Wounded Veterans, Waiting Lists, The Long Form Census, Rack Nine, The Long Gun Registry, In-and-Out, F-35, Chalk River, Robocalls, Michael Sona, Gordon Campbell, The Canadian Wheat Board, Michael Zehaf-Bibeau,The Kelowna Accords, Right Honourable David Johnston, CETA, NAFTA, FIPA, TPP, TFSA, CPP, Bill C-51.

Almost all those words and Acronyms suggest things like secrecy, fraud, misinformation, favouritism, bullying, deceit, The One Per Cent, misrepresentation, betrayal, disloyalty, treachery, bribery, corruption.  They don’t suggest – to most Canadians – simple, positive things for Canada and Canadians: security, tranquility, fairness, community. 

As I wrote in another column, even core Conservatives don’t like being lied to, betrayed, cheated, and deceived.
That suggests change may be in the air. In fact it is.  Think the Alberta Election, May 5, 2015.  Think the hard-hitting books and articles:  Party of One, Harperism, The Arrogant Autocrat, Harperland: The Politics of Control, “Is Harper the Worst Prime Minister in History”, etc. etc.

Present shapes make future history.  And so what is coming is clear? Tough electioneering for the Fall federal election.  Then the Fall federal election.  Then a whole new political landscape.  Except … except history happens in its own way … though present shapes do make future history. What are present shapes?  What is in the future…?

One of the present shapes (we don’t see it because of Conservative Party and government secrecy) is intensive polling and statistics gathering – which point to a Conservative loss in the Fall election.  Rats, moreover, (to insult Canada’s rodent community) are leaving the sinking ship. The solution, we may imagine - more and more occurring to the Conservative Party of Canada and the Conservative government - is one of two kinds.

[One] As in the 2006 (in-and-out scandal) election and the 2011 (Robocall scandal) election and in the Robocall violations in Saskatchewan in 2013 (but with much more certainty of effectiveness) the Conservative Party and government, we might imagine, see the need for a fully developed fraudulent process in place to falsify and steal the election.   We would have to imagine, as well, that they may be consulting, as I write, the very best U.S. experts on election fraud. 

Because it’s a very dangerous undertaking - to effect wholesale election fraud without being caught - the Conservative Party and government, we have to imagine, as well, might be working [Two] on another tactic - working out a way … not to have an election at all. 
Many Canadians might imagine them working to find a method of having, instead … a prorogation of Parliament, indefinitely. They might, for instance, (we imagine) conduct a carefully planned Terrorist Event in which, say, the Leader of the Opposition is assassinated (as well as, say, a few disposable, back-bench Conservative MPs to make the public believe Conservatives aren’t the guilty planners). Then, say, they might hold a State Funeral.  We can imagine a huge State Funeral (with –during the ceremony - carefully prepared shocking public violence occurring before cameras to clinch the action). Then, say, a decision of the Right Honourable David Johnston, Governor General could be made to have the present government continue for the foreseeable future ... under Martial Law (no public meetings, no uncensored publication, etc.) until the country is peaceful enough “to support full free and fair elections” such as the Conservative Party and government always passionately want for Canada and Canadians.

 [David Johnston was chosen by Stephen Harper to set the terms, remember, of the Oliphant Commission Inquiry (2009) into the dealings between Karlheinz Schreiber and Brian Mulroney. Mulroney exited the Inquiry unscathed.  Justice Oliphant’s Report avoided any conclusions “regarding civil or criminal liability”, assuring Mulroney’s safe exit.  Oliphant was forbidden to make those conclusions by the terms David Johnston set.  Not many months later, David Johnston was named Governor General of Canada.  His term was recently extended. A question faces Canadians: was his term extended in case the Conservative government needs Governor General’s approval for a fraudulent prorogation of Parliament?]

Speaking of fraudulence and planned terrorist events, non-government specialists in Canada and the U.S. are strongly suspicious of all matters relating to the killing of Corporal Nathan Cirillo by Michael Zehaf-Bibeau (at the Ottawa cenotaph) - and his own killing - in Ottawa (in the Parliament Buildings) on October 22, 2014. Many believe the truth of the event is still unknown by most.  James Baxter, editor-in-chief of ipolitics accused the government of “exploiting two isolated murders to push through sweeping new surveillance powers”. Whatever else they may think, many in the country agree with James Baxter.

Barrie Zwicker, long-time Canadian researcher of “false-flag” actions, sees the Ottawa events in much darker shades.  He writes a long piece in Truth and Shadows [“Canada’s False Flag Terror…”] in which he suggests the whole event was government created.  He sees a pattern of “agents in the shadows [who] pull the levers” to bring about outrages effected by, apparently, single-acting (often mentally unstable) operators like Zehaf-Bibeau. He was “known to authorities” and – according to Zwicker – created an event possessing many qualities of standard false-flag events.  They are events – it is theorized - in which forces in power (usually governments or those aligned with them) produce dramatic and violent public criminal happenings as a cover for their own illegitimate actions or as a spur to policy which is repressive of public freedoms.

The present Conservative Party and government of Canada, many Canadians are certain, have done – repeatedly - deceitful, dishonourable, distasteful, and destructive things to Canadian democracy. Is there among those Canadians who believes – moving into a strongly uncertain election – that the Canadian Conservative Party and government will change their dishonest ways … now? Will become beacons of public integrity? Are there Canadians who can imagine that?
The experience of history  [present shapes] says we can imagine but not know if the Conservative Party and government will undertake illegitimate, fraudulent, unethical, and/or – perhaps – criminal things in the next months.  We can only say be ready … for we can imagine they might attempt some kind of gigantic fraud  (in who knows what form?)  to prevent an election and/or to effect what is called a coup d’etat  (defined as “the violent or illegal seizure of power”).

How do we imagine that may be true?  From observing present shapes – from, as we say, the experience of history.



Written by Robin Mathew


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The Straight Goods

Cheers Eyes Wide Open

Thursday, June 18, 2015

Canadian LNG NEWS, The Grim Reality Is Glut, Glut and More Glut



There has been many lazy LNG articles in Canadian newspapers as of late, the only conclusion one can come to is..

Propaganda, keep the people believing, keep the uniformed fooled, pretend all is well when alarm bells are ringing and red flags whipping violently in a full force gale..

South Korea is actively snubbing LNG, .....South Korea is pushing forward with nuclear power, year over year South Korea`s LNG imports declined by over 20%..This at a time when LNG prices have crashed combined with a massive LNG glut..So clearly, high priced LNG is not the dominating factor in South Korea`s reduced LNG use, ...the Asian price for LNG has been more than halved year over year, South Korea`s Government has made a forward looking choice..That choice is predicated on clean, green house gas emission`s free nuclear power..Cheaper, reliable, domestic, with the added benefit of not having to rely on greedy multinational energy companies..


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"Yoo Sang-Hee told Platts that high prices of LNG compared to coal and nuclear push the demand for the liquefied natural gas further down in the power generation sector as more gas-fired power plants remain idle.

Operating rates of gas-fired power plants went from 61.3% in 2013 to 50.8% in 2014, and as Yoo said, it is expected that these rates will slip to 23.7% by 2019 and even lower to 16.8% in 2022."

 http://www.lngworldnews.com/lng-being-pushed-out-of-south-koreas-power-generation-market/

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South Korea as a lucrative future customer is not in the cards....Japan, they are returning to nuclear power and even without any nuclear power plants restarted YET Japan`s LNG imports are in decline...Volume of LNG imports are in decline and the price of the imported LNG has reached record lows...Record low prices for LNG in Japan...And those record low prices are happening even before the massive LNG glut swamps the markets over the next three years...At current prices, Canada`s proposed Greenfield LNG projects can`t break even let alone make a profit...If Canadian greenfield LNG projects lose money, or barely break even, the Canadian taxpayer, the owner of the resource won`t see a dime of return for the dumped gas, not only won`t Canadians see any financial returns, the people of Canada will be paying the owners of behemoth land-based LNG plants monies...A net loss to the people of Canada...We will simultaneously lose money while exhausting our gas and water reserves...Not a pretty picture..

 http://www.lngworldnews.com/japan-lng-imports-down-11-4-pct-in-may/

The Japan LNG market....The volume of imports is in steep decline, the price decline is following the LNG glut in lockstep......The latest Japan price for imported LNG is $7,30 per MMBTU ....The one bright spot for slightly higher prices for LNG exporters was the Indian LNG spot market, which consistently remained higher the Japan`s pricing....That Indian bright spot has waned too...

_____________

 "The July market started off very strongly due to production issues at Australia’s Northwest Shelf project that resulted in some sellers raising offers quite aggressively,” said Max Gostelow, Platts pricing analyst for Asia LNG. “However, the expected demand spike never did materialize, and it quickly became apparent that supply in the region still far outstripped demand, with projects in Malaysia, Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, Russia, and even Australia’s Darwin project, having surplus cargoes.”
 
While buyers in Taiwan and Japan entered the spot market to buy several cargoes, most of the demand for July delivery was focused on India, which was the premium market in the Asia Pacific basin. However, by the end of the month, Indian prices had fallen to $7.300/MMBtu, the same price as the JKM, on slower demand due to India’s monsoon season, and declining prices in competing markets –such as the UK onshore National Balancing Point gas market. This marked the end of a recent trend that saw Indian prices consistently above the JKM since April 13."


http://www.lngworldnews.com/platts-july-spot-lng-prices-to-asia-plummet/

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Future forecasts for Chinese LNG demand are even more worrisome for LNG exporters....China and Russia have signed  NEAR $TRILLION dollar pipeline deals for pipeline direct Russian gas, that`s one major factor, the other is China`s own domestic supplies of natural gas and a renewed push towards clean emission`s free nuclear power and even renewable green energy, China is set to be the world`s largest producer of cheap green renewable energy....These events have turned China, the one country big LNG exporters were counting on to absorb excess LNG cargoes....China has gone from the last great hope to absorb the coming LNG glut to a faint hope at best...

Back to these PROPOSED Canadian Greenfield projects....And the Canadian mainstream media hype...The economic viability of these proposed land-based behemoth Greenfield projects is no longer in doubt, absolutely, positively at current prices they can`t make money, only lose money...The only way they could be built and thrive is if we the Canadian taxpayer subsidize and pay these companies to take our gas..Free gas, free electricity, free carbon offsets, free range to abuse the land and water base..

I`m not the only one ringing the alarm bells and waving red flags...Below is a very good read on a bleak LNG future..From the Australian perspective..

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Cracks appear in LNG story

 

Senior Reporter

 

The timing of Australia's $160 billion push to secure the mantle of the world's biggest liquefied natural gas exporter by 2018 is growing murkier by the day.

For years the thesis underpinning Australia's rapid ascent to become a global LNG powerhouse has centred on an accepted piece of wisdom within the industry: that Asian utilities will continue to buy massive quantities of gas at a premium to other markets around the world.

Yet in the space of just a few months, cracks have appeared in the Asia demand "story", which has helped to bankroll Australia's big capital-intensive LNG projects.
The repercussions for LNG projects yet to deliver supplies to customers could yet derail Australia's massive punt on unseating Qatar as the global superpower of gas.

  Two warnings arrived on Wednesday night and both held potentially severe repercussions for Australian LNG.

BP, in its closely watched annual review, sparked the first note of gloom.
It calculates that Chinese growth in consumption of primary energy last year slowed to just 2.6 per cent, its lowest level since 1998, sparked by the country's shift towards a service-led economy rather than one based on heavy industry.

Growing fears of gas glut

Given LNG has been the fastest-growing fuel source in China, the slowing rate of consumption is leading to growing fears of a gas glut at just the wrong time for Australian producers, bringing a mass of new supply onto the market.

The fall in demand is a concern because LNG producers had assumed that a China government-sanctioned move toward cleaner energy – more gas-fired power stations and a greater use of renewables in the energy mix – would put LNG imports in the box seat.
But while there's been a big shift to renewables in China, coal is proving much more difficult to dislodge from the energy mix.

LNG is trading at about $US7.50 per million British thermal units on the spot market, about half the level of a year ago.

Despite that fall, coal remains cheaper, with JP Morgan estimating the switch point for utilities to think about moving to LNG remains below $US6 per million BTU.

The cheap price of coal means it remains the fuel of choice for Chinese customers, with about 70 per cent of the country's energy needs fuelled by the black stuff.

Several hours after the BP missive, consultancy Wood Mackenzie weighed in with a similarly bearish narrative, slashing its forecasts of growth in Chinese consumption of gas and predicting a surplus of 18 billion cubic metres (bcm) of Chinese contracted LNG from 2015 to 2017.

Other problems for producers

"Short-term drivers [for the reduction] include low oil prices and high domestic gas prices, reversal of environmental policies, competition from coal and hydro and warmer winter weather," Woodmac principal gas consultant Gavin Thompson said. "Structural factors include the switch from industrial production to the service sector as a driver of economic growth."

Falling demand is not the only problem for Australian producers.

The International Energy Agency warned earlier in June that LNG prices may remain lower for longer, raising questions about the business case for long-dated Australian projects.

"The belief that Asia will take whatever quantity of gas, at whatever price, is no longer a given," Maria van der Hoeven, the IEA's executive director, said in a statement. "The experience of the past two years has opened the gas industry's eyes to a harsh reality: in a world of very cheap coal and falling costs for renewables, it was difficult for gas to compete."

Australian LNG producers can quite fairly shrug their shoulders over some of the China numbers.
Because they pre-sell about 80 to 90 per cent of their production to utilities around Asia, they are less exposed to fluctuations in the spot market for now ,with their price terms often agreed over a 20-year term.
Many also have limited exposure to customers in China, although this will increase as new projects come online in the next few years.

Excess capacity a broader problem

But market watchers argue that excess capacity in China represents a broader problem for Asia's overall LNG market.
Reports that China is looking to sell out of long-term deals and instead look for buyers to take its contracted LNG on the international market could keep prices depressed for the next few years.
The danger is that some of the buyers of Australian LNG may simply recycle the gas back into the market until the supply situation turns back in their favour.
Others point out the problem is not limited to China.

South Korea, one of the largest consumers of LNG, is importing nearly 20 per cent less LNG compared with a year ago and is looking to adopt more short-term, cheaper deals to reflect the changing dynamic in the sector.

If the slump becomes a regional trend within Asia, Australian producers will have to scrap to maintain lucrative deals struck several years ago when oil was trading above $US100 a barrel.
The slump comes at a particularly sensitive time for Australia's LNG industry.

Three Qld plants to come

Whichever way you look, a new LNG project is slated to come online.


The UK's BG Group is Australia's latest LNG debutant with its $US20.4 billion ($26.4 billion) Queensland Curtis project starting supplies in May. The BG project, which has a long-term sales deal with China National Offshore Oil Corporation, is the first of the three big coal seam gas sourced plants being built in Queensland.

Chevron is the next cab off the rank. Its spent a whopping $80 billion of investment in two LNG projects in Western Australia – Gorgon and Wheatstone – with the $US54 billion Gorgon project scheduled to supply its first gas later this year and Wheatstone due to begin production next year.
From there, attention turns to Inpex Corporation's Ichthys project and Shell's Prelude floating LNG facility.

All up, by 2018, these projects – worth a combined $250 billion in investment – will propel Australia to 80 million tonnes a year of production – beyond Qatar's 77 million tonnes a year – to become the world's largest producer.


The change in profile of Asian demand will also inevitably have consequences for onshore greenfield LNG projects yet to reach final investment decision, along with a raft of expansions slated for later this decade.

It's hard to see how Woodside's $40 billion Browse development can receive board approval given the underlying concerns about Asian demand.

Somewhat muddled approach

All of which raises the question of whether Australia's somewhat muddled approach to becoming a global LNG power may yet come back to bite.

It's a little disingenuous to compare Australia's efforts with Qatar, given the MIddle East producer had the luxury of having one owner – Qatar Petroleum – which directed an orderly flow of LNG projects over the space of a decade.

But in retrospect, Qatar's push to start feeding LNG supplies to Asia over five years ago was a remarkably prescient move.

JP Morgan estimates the magnitude of global LNG capacity growth over the three-year period from 2014 to 2017 is a massive three times the capacity growth seen from 2011 to 2014.
Put another way, it's the biggest increase in production growth since the global LNG industry started in the 1970s.

 Australia may well manage to squeeze its next pipeline of projects through, and indeed usurp Qatar at the top of the table in just a few years.

But JP Morgan warns the shift in the market is likely to usher in a new era of low returns, asset impairments and an LNG glut in Australia's main export market.


That's a legacy few are likely to trumpet come 2018.

 http://www.theage.com.au/business/mining-and-resources/cracks-appear-in-lng-story-20150611-ghliw7.html

________________ 

Add it all up, Canadian projects missed their opportunity....The Asian LNG price premium is gone,  going forward Asian LNG prices will range between $5 per MMBTU and  $8 per MMBTU...

Break-even price for Canadian projects will be between  $10 and $12 dollars...

So, the latest big announcement that Shell`s LNG project in Kitimat has been given an environmental certificate is nothing but white noise.....The behemoth land-based project is a guaranteed money loser in a world of excess gas...Only a very foolish CEO and board of directors would ever green-light the project, the same goes for Petronas..

Like the sagging roses pictured above, they are no longer in bloom...As for the proposed Canadian Greenfield projects... , the bloom and boom has turned to gloom.



The Straight Goods

Cheers Eyes Wide Open

Sunday, June 14, 2015

Mel Hurtig’s Latest Book: The Arrogant Autocrat … And The Famous Nuremberg (Nazi) Trials Question




Mel Hurtig’s Latest Book: The Arrogant Autocrat … And The Famous Nuremberg (Nazi) Trials Question. part II

 Written By Robin Mathews   June 2015

Founder and first Chair of the Council of Canadians, Mel Hurtig has long, long been fighting for good national policy in Canada.

His work has had him rub shoulders with the famous – and the infamous – in Canadian political life.  There was not much done by the latter – the infamous - until recent years, that could surprise him. But – with many, many Canadians of all ages - Mel Hurtig is now surprised, shocked, incredulous, and - finally - very angry at the brazen, vicious attacks on all that is good in the Canadian democratic system by the misnamed Conservative Party of Canada and its devious leader, Stephen Harper.

Name any book or extended article on the subjects dealt with in The Arrogant Autocrat:  the dishonesty of the present Conservative government – its manipulation of fact, its lying, it bizarre perversity, its attack on wounded veterans, on Health Care, on First Nations, on the environment, on environmental specialists, on scientists of all kinds, on decent democratic behaviour, on the economy, on the tradition of fairly presented democratic legislation, on fact, truth, evidence ... and more. 

All of those publications have something in common – in addition to their “chapter and verse” exposure of the present Conservative government’s violations of Canada, violations of Canadian democracy, violations of Canadian traditions of decency – violations of the trust of millions of decent Canadians.

All the publications seem to overlook (or to be unaware of) what has been thought of as the Great Nuremberg Nazi Trials Question. And by doing so, they – in a sense – whitewash the largest majority of present members of the cruel, dishonest, capriciously vindictive, and vengeful Conservative government of Canada headed by Stephen Harper.

Stephen Harper – they all say, in one way or another – has done all the wicked and vicious things listed above.

Yes.  But he has never - for one second - acted alone.

The Conservative government and the Conservative Party of Canada have done all those hateful, malicious, and evil things. The members of cabinet.  The backbench Conservative Members of Parliament.  The employees in The Prime Minister’s Office. The Conservative members of the Senate. The prime minister. Every executive member of every Conservative Party constituency organization in Canada.  Each and every one of them has contributed to the present shame.

Those are the people who have committed the heinous and [certainly, some] criminal acts against the people of Canada. They make up a large number of willing wrong-doers who accept their role to breach trust, to practice various kinds of fraud, to mislead and to lie – perhaps as they are generally directed to do – but which they do willingly and usually enthusiastically without much prompting… or with no prompting at all.

Out of the famous, historic trials of Nazis at Nuremberg after the Second World War, one defence by the accused was heard over and over: “I was under orders.  My superiors directed me. I couldn’t refuse.”

Was that a fair defence? Out of the famous parade of trials came the insistence that every human being is responsible for his/her actions, for his/her moral decisions.  “I was under orders. My superiors directed me.  I couldn’t refuse” was erased as a defense for those who do evil.

One Conservative MP in the history of the Conservative Party, since its leadership by Stephen Harper, has admitted his personal moral responsibility to the Canadian people and to Canadian democracy and has openly, publicly left the Conservative majority in parliament.  Brent Rathberger (MP for Edmonton-St. Albert) has variously described the role of Conservative MPs as having been reduced to “cheer-leading and barking on command”, and being told by Prime Minister’s Office staff to vote “like trained seals”.  He said he would not support an executive [cabinet] “that’s accountable to nobody”, plainly suggesting the Conservative cabinet works irresponsibly, without any democratic restraints. [See his book, Irresponsible Government: The Decline of Parliamentary Democracy in Canada, Dundurn Press, 2014] 

If only, say, five other Conservative MPs had left with Brent Rathberger, to sit in an independent Conservative Rump, the politics of Canada would have been changed.  If five other Conservative MP’s had left with Brent Rathberger and they had been five women MPs, the politics of Canada and the power of women in Canada would have changed dramatically.

Women in the federal Conservative Caucus seem to be demonstrating a present truth:  gender equality in our day means women may be as dishonest, as vicious, as unscrupulous, as bereft of moral principle and personal integrity as the men with whom they work. That seems to be the meaning of ‘gender equality’ in our political life, as the Conservative government reveals “political life” to Canadians.

Let us have no more of the sentimentality that there is one Ogre in Canada, one Ogre in the Conservative Party of Canada: Stephen Harper. From the executive level of Conservative constituency organizations across the country, to ‘ordinary’ Conservative MPs, to members of cabinet, to the perverse and devious (nearly 100) members of the Prime Minister’s Office, to the prime minister himself - the country is cursed with a huge human structure (The Conservative political structure] in which members enact, approve of, or stay silent about cruel, dishonest, vicious, repressive, coercive, vengeful – and, many believe, criminal and fraudulent – activities destructive of Canadian democracy and well-being – activities undertaken, it is said, “by Stephen Harper”.

His actions disgrace the name of prime minister, certainly.  But he is one of a horde of wrong-doers acting without (since Brent Rathberger made his “conscience protest” and left the Party) a murmur of dissent!

Only Brent Rathgerber, Conservative MP from Edmonton-St. Albert has had the courage, the moral stature, and the intelligence to walk away from that ugly structure.  One man.  One man, alone.

Let’s look (for a common example) at a cabinet member, Lisa Raitt, now minister of transport.  We need say nothing about her life and scruples before she became a cabinet minister in 2008 (consult Wikipedia).  As a cabinet minister she has directly attacked and undermined fair labour relations and bargaining.  She has – as cabinet minister – shared responsibility for neglect of First Nations health and education, for neglect of Canada’s most needy veterans, for full-scale assault on decent environmental policy and on environmentalists, for the Robocall Scandal of the 2011 election and for a recent Elections Act intended to destroy fair elections, etc. etc. etc. etc. etc.

Canadians may not be wrong (they may be) if they consider Lisa Raitt a moral monster, an unregenerate neo-fascist.

A sign of the general confusion in Canada about where evil lies in the Conservative Party may be reflected by – of all people – Elizabeth May. At the time of May’s unfortunate fiasco at the Parliamentary Press Gallery Night in early May, Lisa Raitt, apparently, worked to hustle May off stage in order to prevent her making a fool of herself. Okay.

But … as Judith Timson of the Toronto Star remarked (May 21), “Raitt rushed to the podium in her stocking feet to haul her friend May off the stage….” Then Timson goes on to write about “female friendships”.  Enough.

Commentators have said that Elizabeth May is going to have to explain her strange behaviour that night, her use of bad language, and so on.  They have not said she will have a much harder time explaining her friendship with what many, many Canadians see as a moral monster who can have nothing whatever in common with the Green Party or any of its members.  What is going on?  I would say that no decent Canadian could claim to be a friend of Lisa Raitt – major attacker of fair democratic processes in Canada, major supporter of the destruction of Canadian democracy, consistent participant in every Conservative government evil.  A friend?

Parliamentary courtesy demands of all MPs (Conservative MPs have excused themselves from the tradition of courtesy) that they stay civil with one another.  But civility is not friendship.  What is Elizabeth May doing with one of the Conservative government’s moral barracudas as a friend?

I suspect May has joined The Ottawa Club, the club that refuses (House of Commons, the Opposition Parties, Senate, Press Gallery, The Hill Times, etcetera) to admit, to publish, to broadcast, to shout about, to insist upon the naked evil of the present Conservative government. Is she, too, making the mistake that Stephen Harper (alone) is the Evil One; that Stephen Harper (alone) is the Ogre.  If so, she can avoid facing the massive evil presented to all Canada by the present Conservative Party and government of Canada, which exists and lives an immoral existence from its constituency executives across Canada all the way up and through the Party structure.

From that whole massive engine of evil and destruction only one person, one man, has had the integrity to resign, to step aside: Brent Rathgerber, MP (Edmonton-St. Albert).  Why hasn’t he been celebrated by the Opposition Parties?  Why has he been allowed to fade out of sight? Is he an embarrassment to all present MPs? Are all other politicians – even Elizabeth May - unwilling to face the ugly, urgent, persistent truth? 

Maybe.  Which means Canadian voters will have to face that truth. The Nuremberg Nazi Trials Question asks if normal people may be excused for committing evil acts because they are ordered to commit them. And the answer is that they may not be excused. 

The means voters will have to make dramatic decisions at the next election … and then … and then they are going to have to be as watchful as hawks of the newly elected people in whom they place their trust. 



Written by Robin Mathews 




 __________________


Can you feel that refreshing breeze sweeping across Canada....Also known as the winds of change..

I do...


The Straight Goods

Cheers Eyes Wide Open

Saturday, June 13, 2015

Christy Clark and Her Cabinet Moved Champix Research To "In-House" The Smoking Gun




John Horgan on Voice of BC with Vaughn Palmer.

 https://vimeo.com/130491898



Question period in the British Columbia Legislature, July9th/2013


Oral Questions


THERAPEUTICS INITIATIVE  AND DRUG REVIEW PROCESS



A. Dix: My question is to the Minister of Health.


Dr. Arnold Relman and Dr. Marcia Angell, both past editors of the New England Journal of Medicine, have praised UBC's therapeutics initiative as an outstanding drug watchdog. They credit the TI for saving lives and the health care system money.
[ Page 276 ]

TI's research protected British Columbians from Vioxx years before it was pulled off the shelves. It also issued warnings about Avandia, a diabetes drug, six years before the U.S. government fined GlaxoSmithKline over $3 billion for withholding information about the drug's risks.

Does the Minister of Health agree with Dr. Angell's and Dr. Relman's praise for the therapeutics initiative? And if so, will he take steps to ensure that the therapeutics initiative continues to do its job and continues to have the support of the government of B.C.?


Hon. T. Lake: To the Leader of the Opposition, the British Columbia government relies on the best scientific evidence available. That's the very foundation of the drug review process we have in British Columbia. The therapeutics initiative still plays a role in that drug review process. We will continue to work with the TI, but we will make sure that the system that we use here in British Columbia ensures that not only are the best drugs available for the patients here in British Columbia but also have the best value for the taxpayers of British Columbia. 


Madame Speaker: The Leader of the Opposition on a supplemental.


A. Dix: Well, the government just cut the funding for the TI and essentially eliminated its role in the drug review process. If that's what the minister thinks is supporting it or working with it, I would like to see what he does to those that oppose him. Successive Health Ministers Colin Hansen, George Abbott and Kevin Falcon all withstood pressure from the pharmaceutical industry to maintain the role of the therapeutics initiative, to ensure that the therapeutics initiative plays that role in ensuring the safety of drugs taken by British Columbians here in our province — drugs such as Champix, a smoking cessation drug made by Pfizer which Premier Clark added to PharmaCare in September 2011, despite serious concerns about side effects. 

The Premier said at the time about those lethal side effects that she was going to insist that the drug's safety be examined. Why did the government then go on to order the therapeutics initiative not to evaluate Champix's safety? Did they, in fact, oppose a published evaluation of a drug the government itself was promoting?


Hon. T. Lake: The hon. member fails to recall that a review of the drug approval process came at the behest of an umbrella patient organization, Better Pharmacare Coalition. The Pharmacare Coalition was critical of the amount of time it was taking the ministry to approve new medications compared to other jurisdictions, claiming it took 2½ years on average, for B.C. to review and list new drugs.

In response to this, the Ministry of Health appointed a panel of experts. Minister George Abbott at the time accepted all of those recommendations. What we have is a system whereby drugs are evaluated and listed with far greater efficiency than in the past. We still involve the therapeutics initiative. Their funding has not been cut — although, related to the data breach, some of the funding has been suspended while that investigation is ongoing, which is only the right thing to do, and we stand by that decision. 


Madame Speaker: The Leader of the Opposition on a supplemental.


A. Dix: Well, this appears to be a drug approval process that the minister supports. The Premier promotes Champix in her leadership campaign. The government then lists Champix on the PharmaCare program.


The Premier says the drug's lethal side effects, which have forced it to be recently taken off the list in other jurisdictions, will be reviewed. Then, when the therapeutics initiative is doing such a review, the Ministry of Health sends the following e-mail: "We have decided to keep smoking cessation in-house. Sorry about that. It's getting political, and we aren't sure anyone wants to see a published evaluation."


This is a serious situation. The government is promoting this drug. The Premier herself ensured the drug would be listed. She assured the public that side effects would be reviewed, and they are not being reviewed.


Does the minister agree with this approach to drug approval in British Columbia?



Hon. T. Lake: Champix is an effective drug that has helped many people quit smoking and go on to a healthier, smoke-free life — something that we actually think is in the best interests of British Columbians. The ministry, the national common drug review and Health Canada reviewed all the available research on Champix before B.C. decided to cover the drug. All three continue to monitor research on the use of this drug.


For someone to suggest that we are making political decisions, from someone who made a political decision in the middle of a campaign that caused all kinds of issues for job creation in this province, I find it a little bit hard to take.


J. Darcy: The Liberals keep saying that examining government's key responsibilities will be central to the core review they are planning to launch. Given that keeping patients safe should be one of the Ministry of Health's primary obligations, a valid core review would expand B.C.'s drug watchdog.

However, this government is gutting the therapeutics initiative, jeopardizing research into the safety of drugs [ Page 277 ]
like Accutane and dabigatran, a potent blood thinner — so potent that it may cause life-threatening complications and fatalities due to uncontrollable internal bleeding. It is a drug that the therapeutics initiative planned to and needs to review, to protect British Columbians.

Will the minister agree that his primary obligation is to patients, not pharmaceutical companies? Will he agree to restoring therapeutics initiative's funding so that it can study the safety of drugs like dabigatran?


Hon. T. Lake: I thought I made it clear earlier but just to reiterate, government has not cancelled funding to the therapeutics initiative or cancelled its working relationship with TI. Some contracts have been suspended while a ministry investigation continues. We think that is the prudent thing to do, and that is the decision that we stand by.


J. Darcy: The minister and the cabinet also talk about bending the health care cost curve. As the minister is aware, prescription drugs are one of the top cost drivers in health care today. Peer-reviewed research shows that in addition to saving lives, the therapeutics initiative drug research saves B.C.'s PharmaCare program around $140 million annually. That is an excellent return on money, given that therapeutics initiative's funding from this government has ranged between half a million dollars and $1 million.

Why is the minister agreeing to shut down therapeutics initiative at the very time he needs its expertise more than ever to ensure that B.C.'s health care dollars are spent wisely and efficiently?


Jump to this time in the webcast
Hon. T. Lake: Again, a coalition of people who work on behalf of patients was concerned about the amount of time it was taking British Columbia to list new drugs — 2½ years, longer than the national average. I suppose the members opposite would think that that's a good thing — to have people waiting 2½ years to approve a drug that could improve their life. On this side of the House we thought we should do something about that.

A task force recommended a change in the way that we list drugs here in the province of British Columbia, which includes a role for the TI. We think that's appropriate, and we think the faster way of approving drugs has benefitted patients in the province of British Columbia.


THERAPEUTICS INITIATIVE AND
ACCESS TO DRUG INFORMATION


D. Eby: That was 2008 when that patients' coalition made that recommendation. This is 2013. Not only that, but two past editors of the New England Journal of Medicine have said that this was best practice that other jurisdictions should follow.

Giving doctors accurate information about how well medications work is another way the therapeutics initiative saves our health care system money. This information helps doctors give their patients the medicine that works the best instead of new drugs that are more expensive but no more effective. By providing impartial information, the therapeutics initiative helps save money for patients, employers and taxpayers.

In B.C. alone there are over 600 drug company representatives trying to convince family doctors to prescribe new drugs that aren't any better than existing drugs. Can the minister explain to this House how it makes financial sense to shut down the therapeutics initiative and stop doctors from getting the information that saves patients and taxpayers money?


Hon. T. Lake: This is about getting the best medication to patients in the fastest time possible and ensuring the efficacy of those drugs. This is what the Pharmaceutical Task Force pointed out. They wanted to get those drugs to the patients faster. They also have more content experts on that panel to review the drugs under the new system. We think it's a better system. It gets the needed drugs to patients in a faster, more timely way. That is good for the health of British Columbians.


D. Eby: For years the pharmaceutical industry has asked the Liberals to stop the therapeutics initiative from teaching doctors and pharmacists about what drugs work best and how to save patients and taxpayers money. There is no doubt it will save time, stopping the therapeutics initiative from teaching doctors, but that's also, of course, one of the recommendations made by the industry-led Pharmaceutical Task Force in 2008.

Over 90 percent of family doctors and pharmacists use the objective information the therapeutics initiative gives them about what medicines are safe, effective and the best choice for patients. It doesn't make sense to ask the companies that sell the drugs to tell doctors what drugs to buy.

Will the minister stand up today and admit the obvious, that it makes good financial sense to have an independent and objective agency like the therapeutics initiative give impartial drug information to doctors?


Hon. T. Lake: Well, the organization called the common drug review is in fact an independent, impartial, evidence-based agency that's tasked with providing advice to help decision-makers about new and emerging health technologies. That's a national program.
Then provincially the therapeutics initiative is still used, along with our new system of approving drugs, to ensure that in fact drugs not covered by them can be listed here in British Columbia. In response to patients, in response to content experts, we have created a new system that has a more timely way of getting those needed drugs to patients.
Question period video here..
_______________

Christy Clark..Terry Lake, a young man is dead, a family shattered, live`s ruined...

A three year long ruse, a three year elaborate scam designed to con the public...You promoted a bad drug, you took huge BC Liberal party donations from big pharma, you gave Champix a BC Government exclusive, even worse Christy Clark, you promoted that bad drug.You Christy Clark went out of your way to stop Therapeutics Initiative from examining this bad drug..

You Christy Clark and you Terry Lake have blood on your hands.

 The fake scheme hatched in Christy Clark`s office targeting and silencing health researchers have caused death..

 Resign today or prepare to face criminal negligence causing death charges..
This can`t be swept under the rug..

Have you no shame Christy Clark...Terry Lake, do you know what the Hippocratic oath means?


More damning evidence here..


http://powellriverpersuader.blogspot.ca/2015/06/christy-clark-and-bc-liberal-party.html

And here..

http://powellriverpersuader.blogspot.ca/2015/06/christy-clark-admitted-todayfriday-june.html

You can`t wash Roderick MacIsaac`s blood from your hands.....You are a shameless political whore Christy Clark...I will no longer address you as Premier..

Resign today Christy Clark....and take Terry Lake with you..

MORE BREAKING NEWS.....


BCers have no legal aid money.....Because the BC Liberals stole $100 million dollars from the legal aid fund to balnce their budget.




http://mtplaw.com/legal-aid-funds-diverted-by-bc-government/



The Straight Goods

Cheers Eyes Wide Open

Friday, June 12, 2015

Christy Clark and Her Cabinet Moved Champix Research To "In-House" The Smoking Gun




John Horgan on Voice of BC with Vaughn Palmer.

 https://vimeo.com/130491898






Question period in the British Columbia Legislature, July9th/2013


Oral Questions


THERAPEUTICS INITIATIVE  AND DRUG REVIEW PROCESS

A. Dix: My question is to the Minister of Health.


Dr. Arnold Relman and Dr. Marcia Angell, both past editors of the New England Journal of Medicine, have praised UBC's therapeutics initiative as an outstanding drug watchdog. They credit the TI for saving lives and the health care system money. [ Page 276 ]

TI's research protected British Columbians from Vioxx years before it was pulled off the shelves. It also issued warnings about Avandia, a diabetes drug, six years before the U.S. government fined GlaxoSmithKline over $3 billion for withholding information about the drug's risks.

Does the Minister of Health agree with Dr. Angell's and Dr. Relman's praise for the therapeutics initiative? And if so, will he take steps to ensure that the therapeutics initiative continues to do its job and continues to have the support of the government of B.C.?



Hon. T. Lake: To the Leader of the Opposition, the British Columbia government relies on the best scientific evidence available. That's the very foundation of the drug review process we have in British Columbia. The therapeutics initiative still plays a role in that drug review process. We will continue to work with the TI, but we will make sure that the system that we use here in British Columbia ensures that not only are the best drugs available for the patients here in British Columbia but also have the best value for the taxpayers of British Columbia.

 

Madame Speaker: The Leader of the Opposition on a supplemental.



A. Dix: Well, the government just cut the funding for the TI and essentially eliminated its role in the drug review process. If that's what the minister thinks is supporting it or working with it, I would like to see what he does to those that oppose him. Successive Health Ministers Colin Hansen, George Abbott and Kevin Falcon all withstood pressure from the pharmaceutical industry to maintain the role of the therapeutics initiative, to ensure that the therapeutics initiative plays that role in ensuring the safety of drugs taken by British Columbians here in our province — drugs such as Champix, a smoking cessation drug made by Pfizer which Premier Clark added to PharmaCare in September 2011, despite serious concerns about side effects.
 

The Premier said at the time about those lethal side effects that she was going to insist that the drug's safety be examined. Why did the government then go on to order the therapeutics initiative not to evaluate Champix's safety? Did they, in fact, oppose a published evaluation of a drug the government itself was promoting?



Hon. T. Lake: The hon. member fails to recall that a review of the drug approval process came at the behest of an umbrella patient organization, Better Pharmacare Coalition. The Pharmacare Coalition was critical of the amount of time it was taking the ministry to approve new medications compared to other jurisdictions, claiming it took 2½ years on average, for B.C. to review and list new drugs.

In response to this, the Ministry of Health appointed a panel of experts. Minister George Abbott at the time accepted all of those recommendations.

What we have is a system whereby drugs are evaluated and listed with far greater efficiency than in the past. We still involve the therapeutics initiative. Their funding has not been cut — although, related to the data breach, some of the funding has been suspended while that investigation is ongoing, which is only the right thing to do, and we stand by that decision.

Madame Speaker: The Leader of the Opposition on a supplemental.



A. Dix: Well, this appears to be a drug approval process that the minister supports. The Premier promotes Champix in her leadership campaign. The government then lists Champix on the PharmaCare program.


The Premier says the drug's lethal side effects, which have forced it to be recently taken off the list in other jurisdictions, will be reviewed. Then, when the therapeutics initiative is doing such a review, the Ministry of Health sends the following e-mail: "We have decided to keep smoking cessation in-house. Sorry about that. It's getting political, and we aren't sure anyone wants to see a published evaluation."

This is a serious situation. The government is promoting this drug. The Premier herself ensured the drug would be listed. She assured the public that side effects would be reviewed, and they are not being reviewed.

Does the minister agree with this approach to drug approval in British Columbia?



Hon. T. Lake: Champix is an effective drug that has helped many people quit smoking and go on to a healthier, smoke-free life — something that we actually think is in the best interests of British Columbians. The ministry, the national common drug review and Health Canada reviewed all the available research on Champix before B.C. decided to cover the drug. All three continue to monitor research on the use of this drug.

For someone to suggest that we are making political decisions, from someone who made a political decision in the middle of a campaign that caused all kinds of issues for job creation in this province, I find it a little bit hard to take.



J. Darcy: The Liberals keep saying that examining government's key responsibilities will be central to the core review they are planning to launch. Given that keeping patients safe should be one of the Ministry of Health's primary obligations, a valid core review would expand B.C.'s drug watchdog.

However, this government is gutting the therapeutics initiative, jeopardizing research into the safety of drugs [ Page 277 ]
like Accutane and dabigatran, a potent blood thinner — so potent that it may cause life-threatening complications and fatalities due to uncontrollable internal bleeding. It is a drug that the therapeutics initiative planned to and needs to review, to protect British Columbians.

Will the minister agree that his primary obligation is to patients, not pharmaceutical companies? Will he agree to restoring therapeutics initiative's funding so that it can study the safety of drugs like dabigatran?


Hon. T. Lake: I thought I made it clear earlier but just to reiterate, government has not cancelled funding to the therapeutics initiative or cancelled its working relationship with TI. Some contracts have been suspended while a ministry investigation continues. We think that is the prudent thing to do, and that is the decision that we stand by.



J. Darcy: The minister and the cabinet also talk about bending the health care cost curve. As the minister is aware, prescription drugs are one of the top cost drivers in health care today. Peer-reviewed research shows that in addition to saving lives, the therapeutics initiative drug research saves B.C.'s PharmaCare program around $140 million annually. That is an excellent return on money, given that therapeutics initiative's funding from this government has ranged between half a million dollars and $1 million.

Why is the minister agreeing to shut down therapeutics initiative at the very time he needs its expertise more than ever to ensure that B.C.'s health care dollars are spent wisely and efficiently?


Jump to this time in the webcast

Hon. T. Lake: Again, a coalition of people who work on behalf of patients was concerned about the amount of time it was taking British Columbia to list new drugs — 2½ years, longer than the national average. I suppose the members opposite would think that that's a good thing — to have people waiting 2½ years to approve a drug that could improve their life. On this side of the House we thought we should do something about that.

A task force recommended a change in the way that we list drugs here in the province of British Columbia, which includes a role for the TI. We think that's appropriate, and we think the faster way of approving drugs has benefitted patients in the province of British Columbia.



THERAPEUTICS INITIATIVE AND ACCESS TO DRUG INFORMATION



D. Eby: That was 2008 when that patients' coalition made that recommendation. This is 2013. Not only that, but two past editors of the New England Journal of Medicine have said that this was best practice that other jurisdictions should follow. Giving doctors accurate information about how well medications work is another way the therapeutics initiative saves our health care system money. This information helps doctors give their patients the medicine that works the best instead of new drugs that are more expensive but no more effective. By providing impartial information, the therapeutics initiative helps save money for patients, employers and taxpayers.
In B.C. alone there are over 600 drug company representatives trying to convince family doctors to prescribe new drugs that aren't any better than existing drugs. Can the minister explain to this House how it makes financial sense to shut down the therapeutics initiative and stop doctors from getting the information that saves patients and taxpayers money?



Hon. T. Lake: This is about getting the best medication to patients in the fastest time possible and ensuring the efficacy of those drugs. This is what the Pharmaceutical Task Force pointed out. They wanted to get those drugs to the patients faster. They also have more content experts on that panel to review the drugs under the new system. We think it's a better system. It gets the needed drugs to patients in a faster, more timely way. That is good for the health of British Columbians.


D. Eby: For years the pharmaceutical industry has asked the Liberals to stop the therapeutics initiative from teaching doctors and pharmacists about what drugs work best and how to save patients and taxpayers money. There is no doubt it will save time, stopping the therapeutics initiative from teaching doctors, but that's also, of course, one of the recommendations made by the industry-led Pharmaceutical Task Force in 2008.


Over 90 percent of family doctors and pharmacists use the objective information the therapeutics initiative gives them about what medicines are safe, effective and the best choice for patients. It doesn't make sense to ask the companies that sell the drugs to tell doctors what drugs to buy.

Will the minister stand up today and admit the obvious, that it makes good financial sense to have an independent and objective agency like the therapeutics initiative give impartial drug information to doctors?


Hon. T. Lake: Well, the organization called the common drug review is in fact an independent, impartial, evidence-based agency that's tasked with providing advice to help decision-makers about new and emerging health technologies. That's a national program.
Then provincially the therapeutics initiative is still used, along with our new system of approving drugs, to ensure that in fact drugs not covered by them can be listed here in British Columbia. In response to patients, in response to content experts, we have created a new system that has a more timely way of getting those needed drugs to patients.

 http://www.leg.bc.ca/hansard/40th1st/20130709pm-Hansard-v2n4.htm

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Christy Clark..Terry Lake, a young man is dead, a family shattered, live`s ruined...

A three year long ruse, a three year elaborate scam designed to con the public...You promoted a bad drug, you took huge BC Liberal party donations from big pharma, you gave Champix a BC Government exclusive, even worse Christy Clark, you promoted that bad drug.You Christy Clark went out of your way to stop Therapeutics Initiative from examining this bad drug..

You Christy Clark and you Terry Lake have blood on your hands.

 The fake scheme hatched in Christy Clark`s office targeting and silencing health researchers have caused death..

Resign today or prepare to face criminal negligence causing death charges..
This can`t be swept under the rug..

Have you no shame Christy Clark...Terry Lake, do you know what the Hippocratic oath means?

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Hippocratic Oath


"I swear to fulfill, to the best of my ability and judgment, this covenant:
I will respect the hard-won scientific gains of those physicians in whose steps I walk, and gladly share such knowledge as is mine with those who are to follow.
I will apply, for the benefit of the sick, all measures which are required, avoiding those twin traps of overtreatment and therapeutic nihilism. 

I will remember that there is art to medicine as well as science, and that warmth, sympathy, and understanding may outweigh the surgeon's knife or the chemist's drug.
I will not be ashamed to say "I know not," nor will I fail to call in my colleagues when the skills of another are needed for a patient's recovery. 

I will respect the privacy of my patients, for their problems are not disclosed to me that the world may know. Most especially must I tread with care in matters of life and death. If it is given me to save a life, all thanks. But it may also be within my power to take a life; this awesome responsibility must be faced with great humbleness and awareness of my own frailty. Above all, I must not play at God.
I will remember that I do not treat a fever chart, a cancerous growth, but a sick human being, whose illness may affect the person's family and economic stability. My responsibility includes these related problems, if I am to care adequately for the sick. 

I will prevent disease whenever I can, for prevention is preferable to cure.
I will remember that I remain a member of society, with special obligations to all my fellow human beings, those sound of mind and body as well as the infirm. 

If I do not violate this oath, may I enjoy life and art, respected while I live and remembered with affection thereafter. May I always act so as to preserve the finest traditions of my calling and may I long experience the joy of healing those who seek my help."

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 More damning evidence here..


http://powellriverpersuader.blogspot.ca/2015/06/christy-clark-and-bc-liberal-party.html

And here..

http://powellriverpersuader.blogspot.ca/2015/06/christy-clark-admitted-todayfriday-june.html

You can`t wash Roderick MacIsaac`s blood from your hands.....You are a shameless political whore Christy Clark...I will no longer address you as Premier..

Resign today Christy Clark....and take Terry Lake with you..

MORE BREAKING NEWS.....


BCers have no legal aid money.....Because the BC Liberals stole $100 million dollars from the legal aid fund to balnce their budget.




http://mtplaw.com/legal-aid-funds-diverted-by-bc-government/





The Straight Goods

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